One thing about going back to school is that summer suddenly feels more precious. There’s this delicate balance between the need to unwind and the ticking clock of a season that’s all too brief. In just a few short months, you are trying to squeeze in every swim, bike ride, road trip, BBQ, and boat outing—before you know it, you’re back in school. I wrestled with a lot of guilt of not using the summer more to my advantage academically; I could have done more writing, but found myself more engaged in all the household drudgery (laundry, cleaning, etc.) I neglected during the last school year. My job also held the lion’s share of my focus this summer. I spent many hours toiling away in the hot, humid basement prep kitchen of a restaurant, occasionally dipping my head or arms into a 500-degree oven while baking thousands of loaves of bread over the summer. While it would have been nice to work on essays or articles for the paper, all I wanted to do on my days off was lay around my air-conditioned apartment with my dog Beans while reading and listening to music. I could hardly bring myself to go outside during this particularly brutal season. I gave myself a respite from the arduous summer work, by taking a trip to see the Grateful Dead play at the new high-tech audio/visual wonderland, the Sphere—located in the 100+ degree desert of Las Vegas, naturally.
Towards the end of the summer, as the impending fall semester approached, my attitude shifted, and my guilt waned. This school year will be an important one for me; these are my final two semesters at SCCC, and they are sure to be my most difficult since this will be my first time attending all my classes in person since 2009. I’m taking two lab science courses—at two different campuses, mind you—and a physical education course. Believe me when I tell you, I am no superstar when it comes to science or physical education. With that in mind, I’m glad I took it a little easier when I could this summer. With the heavy courseload ahead of me and my usual duties at work and Western Student Press, my time will be stretched very thin, and I doubt I will have time to just sit and read a book on the couch with Beans, much less get around to the ever-growing pile of laundry or other household chores. This fall, on Mondays I will have class starting at 9:30am and ending just before 8pm. I’ll be driving back and forth between campuses and my house and work throughout the week, and the time when I am at home, I will likely be busy with schoolwork or editing and writing for WSP.
This is not to say that I’m not looking forward to a busy semester. I look forward to the challenge of these classes, learning stuff outside my usual field of interest. Let’s just hope the commute between campuses doesn’t drive me crazy first.
